


Going Solo

by hgleiser



Series: Wrong Direction [12]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, First Dates, Flashbacks, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-17
Updated: 2016-08-17
Packaged: 2018-08-09 07:54:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7793248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hgleiser/pseuds/hgleiser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As Kimi prepares for his first date with Minttu(this being an alternate universe where they're not yet married), the rest of Wrong Direction along with Mark and Fernando reminisce about their own first date experiences.  Rated teen for some swearing.  Props to L, K, and the slushie machine at work for keeping me going through the many lunch hours I spent writing this chapter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Solo

“You know you’re paying for everything.”

“Open the car door for her.”

“Flowers are always a good idea.”

“And, above all, have fun.”

Kimi rolled his eyes. “I’ve been on first dates before. I know what I’m doing.”

Nico, Lewis, Sebastian, and Jenson, who were lingering in the doorway, all appeared to be various degrees of offended. “We were only trying to help.”

“You can help by going away and letting me get dressed. For fuck’s sake.” Kimi crossed the room and shut the door in their faces. “I can handle this. Besides, aren’t all of you about to be late for dinner downstairs?”

Sebastian sniffed the air and smiled before hurrying to the kitchen. “I know what it is. Something with aubergines! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m starving.”

Nico, Lewis, and Jenson wrinkled their noses and stuck their tongues out.

“I bet Seb was that one weird kid who always ate his vegetables,” mused Jenson as they followed him, albeit much more slowly.

“What, did your mum have to bribe you or something?”

“Lewis, you know me. There’s not a lot I won’t do for cake.”

_Is different this time,_ thought Kimi, buttoning up his shirt and glancing at his hair in the mirror.  _Minttu wanted to see you again just a week after meeting you. That’s a good sign._ He smiled at his reflection.  _And she laughs at your jokes. Even better._

It was impossible to know for certain after one conversation over coffee, but he found himself hoping she was The One anyway. _No matter how much shit I give the other guys about their love lives they all have someone to come home to. I want a someone too._

“Where’s Kimi?” asked Fernando while helping set the table and pulling a gleeful Sebastian away from the dish of moussaka he placed in the center. “You got lucky. Aubergines were on sale.”

“He’s got a date tonight,” Mark reminded him. “Set one less place.”

Fernando nodded and put the last plate he’d been holding back in the cabinet. “Let’s eat before a certain German beats us to it!”

Sebastian made a face at Fernando as they all sat down. “I can’t help it if it’s the one vegetable I’d eat every day for the rest of my life.”

“Weird,” murmured Jenson to Nico, elbowing Sebastian on his other side. “I told you.”

Nico shook his head and looked less than amused before quickly changing the subject to more polite conversation. “Lewis, remember our first date?”

“It’s kind of hard to forget bailing out of a charity ball two hours early and ending up at a karaoke bar watching you cover Bon Jovi, man.”

“In my defense, I didn’t know the drinks would hit me _that_ hard. I made an idiot of myself.”

Lewis helped himself to a small portion of moussaka. “If you were on  _X Factor_ and I was Simon Cowell I’d have kept you. I promise.”

Mark quickly swallowed the sip of water he’d just taken to avoid laughing hard enough to spit it on the table. “I can’t tell if that’s a sincere compliment or a horrible insult.”

“Thanks for the vote, Lewis.”

“Any time. You really were good.” Lewis cleared his throat and began to sing. “Whoooa, we’re halfway theeere...”

Fernando giggled, resting his forehead on Mark’s shoulder.

“Like I said, Lewis, I made an idiot of myself.” 

“Not as much as you think.”  _Although what happened next was worth it._

 

_***_

“Lewis...” Nico had drunkenly murmured in his ear while they’d waited outside the bar for an available taxi, “...are you taking me home?”

“Yeah, we’ve had enough fun for one night. Let’s get you home in close to one piece.”

Nico leaned against Lewis, who was already supporting him with one arm, and giggled. “But it’s only our first date. Isn’t that a little soon?”

“We live in the same house, Nico, and you’re going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning. I’m going to look after you.”

“Mm, you’re the best boyfriend.” Nico had kissed him, his lips tasting like wine and God knows what else he’d had to make himself brave enough to sing while standing on a table. “I love you.”

Lewis had left the taxi waiting for a few moments longer, unwilling to pull away from Nico’s mouth roughly pressing against his own, and resolved to pick up where they’d left off when they were both sober again. “I love you too. Come on, let’s go home.”

“Okay.” Nico yawned as Lewis opened the door and helped him inside. “I’m starting to feel really sleepy.”

Later, having undressed Nico and gotten him to crawl under the covers next to him, Lewis turned on his side to slowly caress Nico’s back. “What a beautiful disaster you are sometimes,” he murmured. “I don’t know if we’re going to work years from now, but I’m willing to try.”  _And, I hope, so are you._

 

 

***

 

“Awwww. I remember my first date with Jenson.”

“Did you go anywhere romantic?” asked Nico.

Sebastian nodded in the direction of the open window facing the backyard. “Yeah.”

“What?!” Lewis shot Jenson an indignant look. “Of all the places you could have gone and you didn’t leave home? Why?”

Jenson rolled his eyes. “If you stopped being posh with your jeans you could have put holes in yourself, you might have noticed that nature can be just as beautiful as whatever expensive places you and Nico go to on weekends. We had a wonderful time. Dinner and a movie.”

“Jenson made spaghetti carbonara and didn’t burn the kitchen down.” Sebastian grinned as he took another bite. “I was as surprised as he was.”

“I’ll have you know...” Jenson pointed at Sebastian with a forkful of broccoli. “...that the time with the steak was because you wouldn’t stop kissing my neck and I got distracted. The fire wasn’t _that_ bad. If you keep telling on me someone’s going to be sleeping on the couch tonight.”

Mark cleared his throat. “To get back to the subject, what was the movie?”

“ _Toy Story_ ,” Sebastian muttered, keeping his eyes fixed on his plate. “I like it.”

“ If you two get any cuter, we’re all going to get cavities!” Lewis laughed. “Awwww.”

Both Sebastian and Jenson scratched behind one ear in embarrassment, looking up and exchanging lopsided smiles.  _It wasn’t much, but it was everything to us._

 

***

 

At first, Jenson had been unsure of how to approach dating Sebastian since he was the closest to a ‘normal’ person he’d been with in several years—or as normal as Sebastian could be. Models, he’d concluded, were often indistinguishable from each other in matters of what to do on a Friday or Saturday night. You took them to dinner somewhere that was more expensive than it looked, walked around the city afterward if it was nice weather, occasionally went to a club that let you in the second they recognized you, and went home reasonably happy in anticipation of a hangover the next morning. It was simple, routine, and if he was honest with himself,  _boring._ He’d gotten tired of the glamour and going where he knew he’d be seen by the public as well as the paparazzi. Knowing Sebastian had never seemed to want the spotlight was a relief. The question that had continued to loom over his head the morning of the date they’d agreed on, however, was what the hell a man like him  _did_ want.

“What did you have in mind?” he’d asked Sebastian during a run around the neighborhood before breakfast. “For tonight.”

“You asked me out,” Sebastian had replied, lifting his shirt a little to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “Shouldn’t you be a gentleman and plan the evening for us?”

_And I thought it was hot enough out here already,_ thought Jenson.  _He knows exactly what he’s doing to me. Little shit._

“Well, I did want your input since you...you’re not like the others. I never took you to be the high-maintenance type.”

Sebastian grinned up at him. “Pasta and I’m yours. What’s that saying about a man’s heart?”

“The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”  _Pasta. I can handle that._

“That’s the one. And that’s the only input I’m giving you.” Sebastian sprinted down the sidewalk, laughing as he turned the corner back toward home. “Last one there empties the trash!”

Later that night, as Sebastian dozed on his shoulder halfway through the movie having polished off two helpings of dinner and a few glasses of wine, Jenson ran his fingers through Sebastian’s hair and kissed the top of his head.  _I think I found the way there…_

 

***

 

“You two have been really quiet.” Nico looked across the table at Mark and Fernando. “Your turn. What was your first date like?”

Fernando instantly grinned, earning him a playful shove from Mark. “I won.”

“Only because I let you overtake me in the last corner!”

“Was best three out of five. I won fair and square. Is not my fault you’re slow on the straights.”

“I think some of us are going to be taking turns sleeping on the couch tonight...”

“You’d miss this.” Fernando winked and squeezed Mark’s thigh under the table. “Very much.”

“A bit, yeah.” Mark kissed his cheek. “I’ve gotten used to you taking up all the room in my bed.”

“You went karting?” asked Lewis. “Nico, man, we  _need_ to! I might even let you think you’re going to win a few times.”

Nico waved him off dismissively. “You wait and see. The only place I’ll be is ahead of you.”

“Leave the trash-talking to the professionals,” Mark cut in, having heard from Toto how easily they could wind each other up and turn a playful argument into one that required he and Fernando’s intervention. “Both of you.”

“Sorry.”

“I apologize.”

“Whose idea was it?” asked Jenson. “That sounds fun.”

Mark gave Fernando’s knee a slight squeeze in return. “Mine. I knew Fonz couldn’t resist a little friendly competition.”

“Which I won. We went ten times around and I won two times as many.”

“Not for my lack of trying.”  _Okay, so I let you win. Your victory dance was too cute._

 

_***_

 

As he’d slid around the penultimate corner of the circuit, Mark could already picture the grin appearing under Fernando’s helmet and looked bemused under his own. As a teenager karting for fun in Australia on weekends, he’d have never let himself be caught out by the competition if he could help it. Winning wasn’t everything, of course, but the sense of pride in a job well done that lasted until the next race was. Letting a victory slip away voluntarily wasn’t an option.

_Unless,_ he’d thought while easing off the gas and letting Fernando increase his lead by a few tenths of a second to make it appear believable,  _the driver in front of you is your first serious boyfriend in ten years._

It was a date, one he’d plucked up the courage to ask Fernando on(with a little goading from Jenson), and as such it was his duty to make sure his date had a good time.  _It’s not losing, per se. It’s being a gentleman._

Watching Fernando cross the finish line and strike silly poses while proudly hoisting his tiny trophy in the air, he found the latter was much more satisfying.

“Want to go again?” Fernando had asked, beaming from ear to ear after he’d met up with Mark by the starting grid. “Maybe you get closer this time.”

“Best three out of five, Nano. Winner buys drinks or dessert.”

Fernando had shaken his hand then leaned in for a brief, teasing kiss. “You’re on.”

Mark had smiled down at him.  _Hmm, I could go for a strawberry milkshake. After all, you’re buying._

 

_***_

 

Minutes later, when Kimi came in the kitchen for a quick drink of water before leaving, all eyes fell on him when he paused next to the table. “What is it? Do I have something in my teeth?”

Fernando smiled reassuringly. “No. Good luck. If she’s a smart woman, she will love you.”

“Have fun!” Jenson gave him a thumbs up.

“Don’t stay out too late,” added Sebastian.

“You look good, man.” Lewis smiled. “Don’t forget flowers.”

“I hope it goes well.” Nico gave him a once-over and nodded his approval. “I’m sure it will.”

Kimi glanced at his watch. “Time to go pick Minttu up. I’ll see all of you in the morning.”

“Remember,” called Mark as Kimi hurried out the door, “no matter wha t happens, we’ve all been there!”


End file.
